“Meddle not in the affairs of the dragon; for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.”

Saturday, December 12, 2009

So what to work on now

Now that I have (gratefully) taken my post-NaNo break, I'm ready to start writing again; however, this is the first time in many a year I desire to write with a purpose. You see, I posted a list the Year of Doing Big, Fun, Scary things forum, and on this list involves two primary goals:

Completing my 2009 novel, and completing my 2008 novel. I'd like to complete the 2008 novel for CreateSpace's free proof offer for NaNo winners. I've missed this offer (or the similar one from Lulu) every year, and dangit, I want this book in my hands, even if not published yet, for sheer vanity's sake.

Now, I'm struggling with the desire to finish my2007 novel, Heaven's Bounty. It's such a GOOD story, and now I've finally figured out where I want to go with it, after letting it sit for a year or two.

This is why I'm not a published author yet. It has nothing to do with the quality of my work; I'm convinced that my prose is as good or better than anything you'll see in Barnes and Noble. It's the fact that I don't finish novels, and therefore am unable to submit them for consideration.

So that's my goal for the coming year: to complete a minimum of one manuscript, and polish it well enough for submission to agents.

Not a publisher, mind you; Like Editorial Ass, I believe firmly in the power of agents to help authors in more ways than just finding a good editor.

But to do this, I have to not only finish a novel, but polish it well enough to put through my critique group, and then polish is MORE into perfection.

But now my dilemma is I have multiple novels that I want to work on. I'm going to finish them all, but in what order?

What I have:

1) My first love, my original. The Story that Had to be Written. I'm currently working on handwriting the second draft, which I'll then transcribe into the computer. This is the one I'd like to have for the CreateSpace offer.

2) The sequel to the previous one; I know, I know. In all fairness, I HAVE finished the first one, when I was 15 or 16... I know how the first one ends.

3) This year's. This one is the one about the widow who ends up as a Queen, and then has to take her husband's assassinated soul, memory, and skills and avenge his death and take back his kingdom. It's FUN, but it's lying fallow again, victim of 50k disease. Mortos Rex.

4) 2007's novel, Heaven's Bounty. It's a sci-fi piece about a winged bounty hunter who is captured, wing-clipped, and raped (dark stuff) and set free by her friends, then seeks to find the source of her deceased captor's freakish shapeshifting powers, powers her love also seems to possess. This one is so much fun, and the voices for all those characters have started up in my head.

5) Of course, Double Edged Sword, though a good chunk of it has gone missing. That's a hard one to write though, and when I get back to it, it's going to be like pulling teeth. Good story, just delicate work.

I dunno. I'm going to work on them all... but which first? My bones tell me I need to finish this year's novel FIRST. It's what's most recent in my mind, and dammit, it would be nice to finish a NaNo novel the same year I started it.

7 comments:

I made a similar goal for my birthday next September - I must actually finish a novel. Don't care which one it is, I just have to pick one and get it done and a fashion that it's presentable to agents. I only have 3 NaNo manuscripts to choose from though, so it's a bit easier.

When in doubt, I usually pick a random number and start there. Good luck choosing where to start and more good luck getting your goal met!

I too am set on achieving my writing goals for this year. You make an excellent point about the usefulness of literary agents, a subject I agree on entirely. I am also setting out to complete and polish one of my novels so that I can begin to actively look for an agent. Best of luck to you on your ventures.

About the Dragon

I am the community manager and Lead Forums Moderator of National Novel Writing Month.

I am finding myself more and more embroiled in the writing world, as I write my own novels, have served on the Board of Directors on the Crossroads Macon writing conference in Macon, GA, and work for the Office of Letters and Light, host of NaNoWriMo.

I love what I do; I love being me. I enjoy ranting and raving, and meeting new people.

I want a leather duster, I have always wanted to learn to shoot a bow. I plan to be a famous novelist, and will do it one day come hell or high water.

I'm a Southern belle with a penchant for British-style tea, and have two kids who also write with me (6 and 8). I am married, poor, and interesting.

If you add me, please pop me a note to let me know who you are! I'd love to know how you found me, what made you add me. If I don't circle you, it may be because you have a blank profile, have mostly promotional stuff in your feed, or we may just not have the same interests. Nothing personal. :)